See what I've been building at Woodwork By Mike

All made by hand in Ellington.

Hi, I'm Mike. I like to build things.

I always have liked building things. As a teenager, it was decks, sheds, refinishing the basement and so much more with my father. He taught me so much. ❤️ In my 20s, a motorcycle. In my 30s, a large-format printing company. And through my 30s and 40s, the best build of all: a family.

Now I build with wood. There's just something about it: the color, the texture, the GRAIN, the knots. Working with it is soothing, almost mesmerizing.

So I turned that love into Woodwork By Mike, right here in Ellington, CT.

Old iron. Old mills. Real wood.

Order or ask a question

Looking for a planter, a cutting board or a piece of home decor? Or just have a question? Drop me a line or browse my store. Everything I make is one of a kind, and I'm always happy to customize a piece just for you.

[Upcoming craft fairs, markets or pickup details.]

Order or ask a question

Looking for a planter, a cutting board or a piece of home decor? Or just have a question? Drop me a line or browse my store. Everything I make is one of a kind, and I'm always happy to customize a piece just for you.

[Upcoming craft fairs, markets or pickup details.]

The Grill Cart

A rolling outdoor kitchen, designed on paper and built from the frame up: a griddle, a pizza oven, a beverage fridge, stainless storage and granite countertops, all wrapped in reclaimed wood.

Every board on the outside is reclaimed wood from old pallets, sealed with tung oil to bring out the grain and protect it from the weather.

The plan

Every build starts on paper. I laid out the cart to fit its appliances exactly and worked out a color-coded frame diagram and cut list before cutting a single board.

Framing it out

A sturdy frame was built to fit around the pizza oven, the griddle and the stainless drawers, fridge and access door, with tile set on the shelves while the layout was tested.

Wrapping it in wood

Next came the skin: board after board of reclaimed pallet wood, laid in a patchwork pattern that gives the cart its character. No two boards are alike.

Finished and on the deck

Sealed with tung oil, fitted with granite countertops and a folding side shelf, and rolled out onto the deck, ready to cook.

Want one of your own?

Every build is one of a kind. Tell me what you have in mind.

Let's talk wood

Have a question, or an idea for a custom piece? Fill out the form and your message comes straight to my inbox. I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Nearly 90 years old. Still cutting.

A Delta Tilt-Top 10" circular saw and 6" jointer combo, built in Milwaukee around 1937. It sat forgotten in a dusty corner until I brought it home for fifteen dollars and put it back to work in Ellington, CT.

How I found it

I was brand new to woodworking when I came across this Delta combo — a 10" tilt-top table saw and a 6" jointer sharing one stand and one motor — for fifteen dollars. After reading through posts on OWWM (Old Woodworking Machines), I had a feeling I'd found something special.

The plan was simple: clean it up and make it my go-to saw.

When I posted it on OWWM.org, longtime members dated it to about 1937–1938 from its badges, and pointed out that the rip fence is an early Delta style, replaced once the Unisaw came out in 1939. It even came with an orphan shaper fence.

— Members of the OWWM.org community

Bringing it back

Why old iron?

Machines like this were built from heavy cast iron to last generations. With a cleaning, a tune-up and some care, a Delta approaching its 90th birthday can work as well as many saws sold today.

[Optional — a line about how this saw fits into making your boards.]

See what it makes

Serving, charcuterie and cutting boards, planters, home wood decor and so much more…

From a water-powered mill to your kitchen.

Some of my wood comes from the Ledyard Up-Down Sawmill, a 19th-century mill in southeastern Connecticut that still saws logs with the power of a running brook.

No glue. Nothing artificial. Just one beautiful piece of ash.

A customer right here in Ellington asked for something special: an all-natural cutting board with no glue at all. Most cutting boards are strips of wood glued together. This one had to be a single, solid piece.

So I went to the source. The ash came from the Ledyard Sawmill, cut from a log on a water-powered mill, and became one wide, clear board with rich dark streaks running through the grain. You can see the actual plank, marked at the mill, further down this page. Every line you see is the tree itself.

[Finish — e.g. food-safe mineral oil and beeswax, or whatever natural finish you used.]

Where the board began

The Ledyard mill runs an up-down sash saw: a straight iron blade stretched in a wooden frame that rises and falls, driven by water. It chews through a log slowly, one stroke at a time, the way lumber was cut for generations. Watch it in action below.

A family mill on Lee's Brook

Like so many small New England streams, Lee's Brook once turned the wheels of several mills. This one outlasted nearly all of them.

Two old machines, one moment in time

In 1937 and 1938, while Harry Main was patching up the old mill on Lee's Brook, Delta was building my saw in Milwaukee. That's the same Tilt-Top saw and jointer I rescued for fifteen dollars and restored.

Nearly ninety years later, the two meet again. The mill cut the log; my old Delta squared and trued the board. Both machines were saved by people who didn't want to see good iron go to scrap.

Good old technology

No computers, no plastic, no shortcuts. Just machines built to be fixed instead of thrown away, and skills passed from one set of hands to the next.

Visit the mill

The Ledyard Up-Down Sawmill is run by volunteers and opens to visitors in spring and fall, when you can watch the old saw at work.

Want a one-piece board?

All natural, no glue, and a story behind every one. Ask about custom orders.